Archive for April, 2009

HOPE Charity Event in Shinjuku

Last Friday, I was honored to be invited to a HOPE charity dinner at the Shinjuku Hilton. Actually, there have been a few events of this nature in the past month. I was invited by John, who you may have seen posting here on the Probe under the name fatblueman, which is the band he headlines for.

The purpose of such diners to gather people that could make a difference, and the goal of these recent gatherings in particular was to bring clean water to the third world. I sat with a few youtubers from the area, including Danny Choo*, and it made for profound, yet fun experience. But videos will make a better impression than I can…

The above video was shown during the keynote speech, detailing the problems of sustainable water.

Fellow party-going youtuber Tolokyo put the following video together. Keep an eye out for Danny, TkyoSam, Tamegoeswild*, Hikoesimon, and yours truly (clicking on any of the links in this video will take you to their profiles including the HOPE YouTube site). But the highlight of the video is the music by John and the duo Secret Ocean.

Thanks again to John for inviting us, and all the hard work he has done to spread the message about this great organization. He is planning a charity trip to Cambodia soon, so keep your ears pealed for that.
Please give some consideration to helping this worthy cause.
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*Yes, Danny really does take a figurine everywhere he goes. Perhaps he will post pics of the event on his site soon.
*Joseph did an excellent writeup about the event, so check out his post.
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Contributor Bio: Claytonian studies the Nihongoes in Saitama and blogs about Japan, language, and news at The Hopeless Romantic.
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Sento-kun online game

Casual Gameplay reports that somebody has made a free web game featuring Nara mascot Sento-kun:

This new game by developer Hyohyohyo (green giant) is a short 3D action adventure about personal growth and wanton destruction. Sentokun in Kamakura is the story of a monk with antlers on his head, on a quest to defeat a giant, antlered cowboy. I don’t know the fine details of the plot, but I assume their conflict is antler-related.

At the beginning, the monk is too weak to prevail, so to build up his strength, he must ransack a peaceful coastal town and raze it to the ground. If you wish there were more browser games that let you throw houses at people, you may enjoy this.

All of the opponents Sento-kun must battle are rival Japanese mascots (No cowboys, I’m afraid).

Play the game here!

[hat tip to Marcus]

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Taro Aso sends offering to Yasukuni Shrine

Prime Minister Aso has sent an offering to the Yasukuni Shrine:

News of the offering — a $500 potted tree — comes a week ahead of the prime minister’s two-day trip to Beijing where he is expected to meet Chinese leaders.

Japan’s relations with China chilled in former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi’s time in office 2001-2006, in part because of his repeated visits to the shrine where Japanese wartime leaders are honoured along with the nation’s war dead.

Government officials have said that Aso has no plans to visit the shrine.

Facts missing from Reuters’ English language news article: Shinzo Abe had also sent potted sakaki plants to the shrine at festival times while Prime Minister, and apparently drew no major anger from China. Aso also had sent a potted sakaki plant as Prime Minister in Autumn of 2008. Both of Aso’s offerings were paid for with his own pocket money.

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Japanese man wins international bartender contest

A video report from the AP about the “Greatest T.G.I. Friday’s Bartender in the World“contest, which was won by Japanese bartender Keisuke Goto:

[via FG]

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Hitachi lied about its Eco appliances

Remember all these commercials about how Hitachi “does everything for the earth” by producing amazing energy-saving products that cut down on CO2 emissions?

Well, it turns out they were bullshit. It has been discovered that Hitachi has been selling special “energy saving” refrigerators based on false claims about a manufacturing process that supposedly involved huge CO2 emission reductions and recycling old products.

Update: Check Mainichi’s English article for more details. It would seem that Hitachi may be able to get off with a mere warning from the government….

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Polar bear cubs in Hokkaido

Twin polar bear cubs play around at the Maruyama Zoo in Hokkaido:

The twin cubs, both of which measure about 80 centimeters in length and weigh some 20 kilograms, drew many visitors anxious to catch a glimpse of the pair.

The twins looked like they may try their first swim on Friday, but were too scared to get in the water. On Sunday, however, the cubs took the plunge with a little encouragement from their 14-year-old mother Rara, and spent some time paddling around their pool and then basking in the sun to dry.

The two bears are siblings of Tsuyoshi, the poor female bear that zookeepers tried to mate with another female bear.

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